New 90gal and new to site

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Hello! I have had 55 gallon tanks for over 30 years and I just had a chance to pick up a 90gallon tank which ...

Hello! I have had 55 gallon tanks for over 30 years and I just had a chance to pick up a 90gallon tank which will replace the 55g.

The 90g came with the tank, stand, glass top, natural gravel, and a light. No filtration system.

My 55g has a underwater filter with bubblers, an Eheim 2213 canister filter with a sponge pre-filter, and a Aquaclear 300 filter which is probably overkill. I highly suspect I could move my filter solution to the 90G, but I am guessing the underwater filters are larger for the larger width.

I will probably buy a new heater as my other one is very old and I will let the 55g buyer have it.

Anything I need to do different other than think of it as a bigger 55G?

Suggestion on a heater brand/model and what you would bring forward to use on the 90g and what should be upgraded or replaced.

As an aside, is there a preferred online retailer for whatever you suggest?

Your filtration needs depend on what your stocking levels will be but in a tank that large, I would definitely go with two filters for redundancy. As far as heaters, again I would go with two for redundancy.

As beachcire mentioned, filtration should be based on the fish that you intend to keep in the tank. And whether or not live plants are to be included has a bearing. I can comment more when I know these things.

As for heaters, in Minnesota you should definitely have two, and I would go with 200w or 250w heaters. The higher wattage heaters tend to work better and have less problems. And having two decreases the work load of each one which further lengthens their life and reliability. If you have a canister filter, the outflow can be at one end and the intake at the other, and a heater next to each works very well as it heats the water coming in and going out so there is less fluctuation.

Your filtration needs depend on what your stocking levels will be but in a tank that large, I would definitely go with two filters for redundancy. As far as heaters, again I would go with two for redundancy.

I have used kensfish and big al's online and was pleased with both.

For the longest time I had a psuedo cat, a mature silver dollar, and a medium pleco after many years of fishing dying of old age and bigger ones eating smaller ones.

Recently I went with my first Cichlids. Four Yellow Labs, two Pikes, three blue body, yellow fin, but don't know name. None of the Cichlids are mature with the Pike being the biggest at about 4"

I want to add some more silver dollars as I have the other one. Don't know what else, if anything I will add, but they are doing fine now in my 55g so the 90 should accommodate more fish or bigger fish.

My cats (had two until recently) would eat all the plants so I had no luck with live plants, which I regret.

As far as the heater goes, I don't even know if it works :) I don't even have a thermometer in the tank. My fish have done well on the most part. Must be due to my every other year water changes.

As beachcire mentioned, filtration should be based on the fish that you intend to keep in the tank. And whether or not live plants are to be included has a bearing. I can comment more when I know these things.

As for heaters, in Minnesota you should definitely have two, and I would go with 200w or 250w heaters. The higher wattage heaters tend to work better and have less problems. And having two decreases the work load of each one which further lengthens their life and reliability. If you have a canister filter, the outflow can be at one end and the intake at the other, and a heater next to each works very well as it heats the water coming in and going out so there is less fluctuation.

Byron.

What has been done to hide heaters, lift tubes, pump intakes, etc? I am really getting tired of all of the stuff that I can't seem to hide with fake seaweed. The thought of having even more stuff I want to hide seems to be going in the wrong way. Has someone come up with something that can go in the corners that all the stuff can be behind that looks "natural". And something else to go in the middle of the tank for the middle two bubblers? Sure would like some fake log or fake rock thing to hide all the stuff.